Tag Archives: Jason Barnes

Sugar Creek Sewage Bypass, Valdosta Utilities 2025-05-14

Update 2025-05-16: Dirty Sugar Creek, Clean Withlacoochee River 2025-05-14, Clean Alapaha River 2025-05-15.

Yesterday I looked at the sewage bypass on Sugar Creek. Valdosta Utilities Director Jason Barnes had told me they had recently extended it.

Sugar Creek Sewage Bypass 2025-05-14, Valdosta Utilities, Bottom end extended

Turns out they moved the bottom (north or downstream) end about 350 feet farther north, towards Gornto Road.

The upper (south or upstream) end apparently has not moved recently, but it is farther south than back in January when the bypass was first installed. Originally it was downstream from where Sugar Creek crosses under the railroad. Now it is upstream (south) of there. Continue reading →

Better retested Sugar Creek water quality 2025-04-25

Update 2025-05-02: Sugar Creek still dirty, Clean Withlacoochee and Alapaha Rivers 2025-05-01.

Update 2025-04-30: For Tuesday, April 29, 2025, Valdosta Utilities got 640 cfu/100 mL E. coli at Baytree Road and 410 at Gornto Road on Sugar Creek. That’s still too high, but better than even last Friday.

After last Tuesday’s horrendous TNTC result at Gornto Road on Sugar Creek, Valdosta Utilities tried again and got better results.

Valdosta’s Friday E. coli result was 930, which is still not good, but closer to the previous weeks’ 760. Both are above the one-time test limit of 410, but below the alert limit of 1,000, and far below TNTC (Too Numerous to Count).

Valdosta Utilities Director Jason Barnes tells me they have also double-checked their sampling process.

Better retested Sugar Creek water quality 2025-04-25, by Valdosta Utilities, Upstream from Withlacoochee River

You can see the follow-up results down at the bottom of Valdosta’s 2025 Sugar Creek Spill Testing table.
https://www.valdostacity.com/utilities/river-stream-water-quality-data/2025-sugar-creek-spill-testing

* Sample Colonies Too numerous to Count- Issue under investigation and new Sample to be pulled and Results to be posted upon completion.
** Ad hoc Sample to follow up Results from 4/22/25 . New Sample Pulled 4/25/25. Gornto Road Results: FColi=760 EColi=930

Continue reading →

Clean Little & Withlacoochee Rivers, Filthy Sugar Creek 2025-04-01

Update 2025-04-04: Dirty upstream, clean downstream: New and Withlacoochee Rivers 2025-04-03.

Avoid Sugar Creek after rains, at least downstream from Baytree Road.

I sampled Tuesday, hoping to get low E. coli so we could all put that long-term Sugar Creek sewage spill behind us. But the results were very bad, as in Too Many to Count (TNTC) at Gornto Road and 4,933 cfu/100 mL at the WaterGoat. The alert limit is 1,000, so many times that.

Why? Most likely the banks and bed of Sugar Creek are still contaminated from the sewage spill and the rains washed some of that into the creek. Valdosta Utilities Director Jason Barnes assures me the sewage bypass is working. Even though its pump wasn’t running when I went by there, he says it turns on as needed.

The good news: the Withlacoochee River downstream at GA 133 was pretty clean. Apparently rainwater in the river diluted the contamination from Sugar Creek. The Little River at Troupville Boat Ramp was even cleaner. So downstream on the Withlacoochee River you should have no problems this time from Sugar Creek.

After rains, Filthy Sugar Creek 2025-04-01, Clean Little River &, Withlacoochee Rivers

The usual weekly WWALS water quality report will be published tomorrow (Friday). Continue reading →

Valdosta Sewage Spill Reports: Jackson Drive, not Street, and Sugar Creek 2025-02-17

Update 2025-02-22: Ashburn Spill 2025-02-14, Chemours Mine Spill 2025-02-16, Bad Little River 2025-02-17, Bad Withlacoochee River 2025-02-19 2025-02-19.

Valdosta reported the January 14, 2025, sewage spill in the wrong place. It was actually on Jackson Drive, near the Lowndes County Jail, not on Jackson Street, in downtown Valdosta.

Jackson Drive, not Street, Dukes Bay Canal, Valdosta, GA Sewage Spills, and Sugar Creek

Thanks to a tip, I asked Valdosta Utilities Director Jason Barnes, who told me they reported the correct GPS coordinates. But GA-EPD does not publish GPS coordinates.

So WWALS sent an open records request asking for, “All sewage spill reports sent from the City of Valdosta to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD) from December 4, 2024, through February 17, 2025, as well as any and all related correspondence between the City and GA-EPD.”

As usual, we got no correspondence, but we did get the report, which erroneously says Jackson Street, but it does have the GPS coordinates: 30.81102673, -83.27182962. Continue reading →

Cleaner but still dirty Sugar Creek 2025-01-24

Update 2025-01-31: Clean New, Withlacoochee, Alapaha Rivers; Sugar Creek finally OK 2025-01-29.

As Valdosta Utilities Director Jason Barnes promised Friday, results from the Valdosta water quality samples that day are on the city’s website.

There’s good news and bad news.

Cleaner but still dirty, Sugar Creek 2025-01-24, Baytree Road bad, Gornto Road worse

The good news is: E. coli counts at Gornto Road are down to 2,500 from 8,900 cfu/100 mL a week before. Continue reading →

Valdosta has found the Sugar Creek sewage leak 2024-01-06

Update 2025-01-10: Filthy Sugar Creek, OK Withlacoochee River, Clean Alapaha River 2025-01-09.

Update 2025-01-08: Sewer line break, Sugar Creek 2025-01-07.

Congratulations to the City of Valdosta and Utilities Director Jason Barnes for finding the Sugar Creek sewer leak.

He told me this afternoon that a bypass pump ~~is already in place~~ will be in place soon.

Finding it became easier after WWALS water quality testing narrowed the potential location within 2,000 feet.

The press release does not say exactly where the leak is, but according to descriptions (between the railroad trestle and Gornto Road and in the creek), I think it is probably the pipe pictured.

Valdosta has found the Sugar Creek sewer leak 2025-01-06, After WWALS narrowed it within 2000 feet

Also, I confidently predict the estimated spilled gallons will be at least 10,000, as in a major spill, after these two months it’s been spilling.

Congratulations again to Valdosta Utilities for finding the leak!

All of the images below are by WWALS; the Valdosta press release contains no images.

City of Valdosta Responds to Sewer Pipe Washout Along Sugar Creek

On Monday, January 6, 2025, at approximately 11:20 a.m., City personnel conducted inspections along Sugar Creek to identify a potential source of recent high bacterial counts in the area and a possible source of inflow into the lift stations. During this inspection, City workers discovered a recent washout where a sewer collection pipe had shifted open, allowing sanitary sewer to flow into the creek and vice versa.
Continue reading →

Valdosta sewage spill reports to GA-EPD from November 7 through December 3, 2024

Update 2024-12-13: Filthy Sugar Creek, dirty Franks Creek, bad upstream Withlacoochee River, clean downstream 2024-12-12.

I got part of what I asked for in an open records request to the City of Valdosta: “All sewage spill reports sent to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD) on or after November 6, 2024, through December 2, 2024”. Those provide some extra detail, and some hints of fixes being planed for these problems.

Valdosta sewage spill reports to GA-EPD, from November 7 through December 3, 2024

I did not get the rest of it: “together with all associated correspondence between the City of Valdosta, GA-EPD, and other parties including state agencies in Georgia and Florida and relevant landowners.”

The December Meadowbrook Drive spill into Two Mile Branch

Let’s look at the most recent spill in the GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report, and compare that to what Valdosta Utilities sent to GA-EPD. Continue reading →

Clean Withlacoochee River after Hurricane Helene, but much flooding and storm damage 2024-10-02

Update 2024-10-06: Clean Withlacoochee River, but some stretches flooding, and more rains coming 2024-10-04.

Valdosta’s Wednesday water quality samples show the Withlacoochee River clean after Hurricane Helene. Valdosta’s Wednesday a week ago samples corroborate clean before Helene, matching WWALS testing.

There are no new WWALS test results, because none of us have had electricity, which is needed to incubate the samples at 95 F for 24 hours. Two WWALS testers have power back, so maybe some new results soon.

The weather report is sunny for the next week, although you never know what might blow in off the Gulf or the Atlantic.

Many national, state, and local parks are closed, especially on rivers.
https://wwals.net/?p=65987

Upstream rainfall now running downstream is causing widespread river flooding. See separate report on the Alapaha River.
https://wwals.net/?p=65990

If you can, please stay home until the power and road situations are better.

Afterwards, there will be plenty of more opportunities for pleasant paddles and chainsaw cleanups. Continue reading →

Hurricane Helene Sewage Spills 2024-09-27

Update 2024-10-06: Corrected location of Valdosta Ponderosa Lift Station (1001 Ponderosa Drive).

Update 2024-10-04: Clean Withlacoochee River after Hurricane Helene, but much flooding and storm damage 2024-10-02.

Tifton spilled 1.375 million gallons of raw sewage during Hurricane Helene, 950,000 into a creek that goes to the Little River, and the rest into creeks that go to the New River above the Withlacoochee River.

Sycamore spilled 350 gallons above Hat Creek, above the Alapaha River.

According to Valdosta Utilities Director Jason Barnes, Valdosta spilled 9,000 gallons due to a tree falling on a lift station, above Knights Creek, which goes to Mud Swamp Creek, the Alapahoochee River, and the Alapaha River. He said he has reported it to GA-EPD. Perhaps it will appear Monday in the GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report.

Tifton spilled 1.375,000 gallons, Sycamore 350, during Hurricane Helene. Valdosta spilled 9,000 gallons, tree on lift station.

I would avoid the directly-affected creeks. But these are all so far upstream of their rivers that the rivers were probably not much affected.

But you might check with Reed-Bingham State Park for their latest lake contamina tion report before swimming there. Continue reading →

Probably clean rivers before Hurricane Helene, but please stay home 2024-09-25

Update 2024-10-04: Hurricane Helene Sewage Spills 2024-09-27.

Please stay home and let emergency responders, electric utilities, and road crews work.

The rivers were probably clean before Hurricane Helene. And even that unprecedented storm may not have caused many sewage spills, since rainfall many places was not as much as in previous hurricanes. But wind was extreme, and damage is widespread.

I called Valdosta Utilities Director Jason Barnes this morning and asked if he knew of any spills. “No, we’re good,” he said. Since rain on Valdosta was less than in previous hurricanes, that makes sense.

No new sewage spills were reported in the past week in the Suwannee River Basin in Georgia or Florida. But once again, Ashburn, Georgia, reported late, showing up in the September 23 GA-EPD Sewage Spills Report below.

With the hurricane rains, some contamination may have washed into the rivers. And there may have been sewage spills elsewhere not yet reported.

The weather prediction is sunny for the next week.

The rivers are rising. The Withlacoochee River at Skipper Bridge Road above Valdosta is already in Minor Flood, and that water is heading downstream.

Meanwhile, please stay home until the power and road situations are better.

Afterwards, there will be plenty of more opportunities for pleasant paddles and chainsaw cleanups.

Please stay home after Hurricane Helene 2024-09-26 Rivers may be clean, but let utilities work.